Oil pumping apparatus



Jan. 10, 1933. c, g s 1,894,234

OIL PUMPING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 20, 1932 WITNESSES INVENTOR- Zf X M W rag a!- Patented Jan. 10, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENTv OFFICE GUNNAR C. ENGSTRAND, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO SLUDGE PUMPING, ING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK 01:. PUMPING APPARATUS Application filed October 20, 1932. Serial No. 638,747.

My invention refers to an improvement in oil pumping methods and apparatuses, and it is especially adapted for the removal of heavy oils and the viscous sludges, which collect at the bottom of storage tanks in oil burning vessels. Such material has to be raised to a considerable height from the bottom of the vessel over and above the side, and transported for considerable distances to its ultimate place of disposal.

Inasmuch as my pumping method changes the extremely viscous oil sludges into light flowing liquids of low viscosity, such pumped material may be readily transferred through long pipe lines by ordinary pumping means.

Extremely viscous oil sludges have hitherto withstood all attempts of conventional pumping and more recently vacuum systems have been employed where the material is sucked over the ship side together with air and delivered into large receptacles into which the pumped material is delivered and from which receptacles the air is continuously withdrawn during the pumping operation.

Now however I have discovered that such vacuum pumping may be done by a specially constructed steam jet pump, placed close at the end of the transmission line, which steam jet pump will simultaneously discharge both the sludge and the air into an open receptacle, from which receptacle the material may be pumped through long pipe lines by an ordinary force pump.

I therefore claim as part of my invention both the location of the steam jet pump, as well as certain proportions of parts in said pump, and I also claim my method of transfer for heavy viscous material as part of my invention.

In the drawing Figure 1 shows my preferred apparatus used to transfer Viscous material from the interior of a maritime vessel into a slop barge moored at the side of the vessel.

Figure 2 shows the steam jet pump attached to the deck of the slop barge.

Figure 3 shows a cross section on the line A'-A through the steam jet suction pump.

In the drawing where like reference characters denote corresponding parts, 1 denotes the ship from the double bottom of which the v scous material 2 is being removed and pumped into the slop barge 3 which is shown moored at the side of the ship. On the deck of the slop barge the boiler 4 is mounted and provided with the steam line 5, to which line the steam et pump 6 is connected. The steam et pump 6 is of the annular jet design with a central passage for the material and comprises a cast iron body provided with enlarged socket ends 10 and 11, and a tapered and cored nozzle piece 12 is screwed into the intake end of the body piece 13 so as to form a steam jacket 14 having a narrow circular nozzle opening 15 around the hollow core 16 which allows for the passage of .the material. The hose-'7 is shown screwed into the socket end 10. The steam jacket 14 is provided with the steam inlet 18, to which the steam line 5 is connected and the valve 19 controls the steam supply from the boiler. A pipe nipple 8 preferably less than one foot is screwed into the outlet socket of the body piece 13 and passes through the deck 20 of the slop barge. At the end of the suction hose the specially constructed reducer 21 is preferably attached. This reducer is provided withseveral openings 17 through which the air'is free to enter during the pumping operation.

The operation is as follows The suction hose 7 is preferably slung over the ship side and dipped into the material to be pumped, care being taken at all times to so hold the intake end that atmospheric air is freeto enter into the transmission line together with the material.

The material sucked up together with the air by the vacuum created by the steam jet issuing from the annular jet opening 15 is aerated and emulsified by the air during7 the transfer through the transmission line Howeverwhen the aerated emulsion reaches the steam jet and passes through the pump it is immediately de-emulsified by the steam jet as the steam jet will tear the aerated sludge fragments into minute particles and liberate the air bubbles that have become imprisoned in the viscous sludge during the transmission. Also whenever the material to be pumped is one of the jellylike watery emulsions, which so often appear in leaky storage tanks of vessels, these emulsions are also effectively broken down by the action of the steam jet.

The specific heat of water is double that of oil and the water fragments will consequently condense double the amount of the fast moving steam than the oily fragments. As the weight of water and oil is nearly the same, the water fragments, due to the fact that they condense into themselves an amount of fast moving steam double that of the sludge fragments, must possess after condensation a velocity double that of the oil fragments, and the water is therefore by my process torn out of the emulsion and discharged from the transmission line with a velocity double that of the oil, and the watery emulsion is completely broken down and separated into its constituents, viz. oil and water.

The steam jet at the end of the open transmission line causes an air flow through the open transmission line. This air flow enters the transmission line through the openings 17 with a great velocity and in striking the viscous material pumped cracks it and tears it into fragments which subsequently become suspended in the air steam through the open transmission line.

In my method the propulsion therefore is essentially an air transmission and the final product delivered into the slop barge is a mixture of oil and water which readily separates by gravity when allowed to settle, and from here the oil may be conveniently pumped through any pump line for final disposal.

It is to be noted that inasmuch as the steam jet pump is located at the very end of the transmission line there is no opportunity for a back pressure to be built up at the discharge end of the pump, and a high vacuum of nineteen inches as measured on the mercury gauge is obtained in the transmission line by the steam jet pump.

In the vacuum pumping methods for viscous material where a high vacuum is created in large receptacles, a vacuum from 5 to 7 inches higher than that in the transmission line must exist in the receptacle in order to create the necessary inrush velocity of the itir into the receptacle from the transmission Therefore it will be seen that a vacuum of 19 inches in the transmission line is the equivalent of a vacuum of some 25 inches existmg in the receptacles of the previous existing vacuum methods.

. Time and again steam jet pumps have been tried out for the pumping of oil sludges, but as invariably at these trials the steam jets have been placed as close to the intake end of the transmission line as possible, the trials have hitherto been unsuccessful as only a moderate amount of vacuum and entirely inadequate for air transmission would develop.

'It is to be noted that the steam jet which is the main spring of my apparatus is located at the very discharge end of a substantially inverted U-shaped transmission line, and also that the steam jet is directed vertically downwards.

Such a position will prevent the temporary clogging of the jet pump, which would more or less develop if the transmission line was bent over at the end and the steam jet pump placed in a horizontal posit-ion. Also the assistance of gravity to pass the pumped material through the jet pump would be prevented and an intermittent and sluggish pumping would occur in a horizontally placed jet pump.

I have also found that the narrow throat opening of less than ten percent of the pump discharge, used in all conventional steam jet pumps. which are designed for low lift intake and high pressure discharge, cannot be used in my pumping method.

The steam jet which issues at a velocity of close to 3000 feet per second from the annular nozzle opening expands during its passage through the throat of the pump and the expansion obviously increases with the area of the pump throat and also with the discharge velocity through the throat of the pump.

Now however in order to create a high vacuum the steam jet pump must have a discharge velocity of close to 1000 feet per sec- 0nd, and in order to elevate the material over the ships side through a four inch hose, or the size of hose used in my preferred apparatus, an amount of some 400 cubic feet of air per minute must be drawn through the transmission line, which means an air veloc ty of some 75 feet per second through the hose, or enough to suspend the sludge fragments and also foreign matter like clinkers. scales. stones, etc., found at the bottom of storage tanks.

My method therefore requires a certain amount of air per time element to pass through the transmission line as well as a high discharge velocity through the jet pump.

The steam jet issues from the annular nozzle w th a velocity close to 3000 feet and this velocity is arrested principally by the inertia of the air that enters into the steam jet. When the steam jet expands in the pump throat, part of the steam condenses, inasmuch as the expansion is adiabatic, i. e. proceeds practically without heat exchange and more heat units are necessary for to keep a certain amount of steam in gaseous form at a lowered pressure, and as a result hereof only some seventy percent of the steam remains in gas form, the rest being condensed into relatively volumeless'water. Into this partial vacuum which is created by the steam condensation air will be sucked through the transmission line.

If the conventional jet pump dimensions were retained too much steam would be crowded into the pump throat and the expansion would not be sufiicient for the required condensation vacuum to develop. On the other hand if the steam jet expansion was excessive the amount of air sucked in would prevent the necessary high discharge velocity to develop in the jet pump.

,I have found that the area of the throat opening of the jet pump body must be made not less than one third that of the discharge nipple, and that this straight run discharge nipple shall be not more than one foot in lerligth in order for the high vacuum to deve op. I I have also found that the aggregate area of the steam nozzle shall be approximately one sixth that of the throat area of the pump for the best results of pumping.

I am not limiting my claims for invention to the apparatus shown as it isobvious that modifications may bemade in the adaptation of my device without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I-claimz- 1. The method of pumping viscous material characterized by admitting steam at high velocity in the direction of flow at the discharge end of an open transmission line t6 create a high vacuum to thereby suck an air stream through the transmission line and admitting air at high velocity at the intake end of the transmission line to thereby blow the material into fragments which are suspended in the air stream during the transferthrough the transmission line.

2. A pumping apparatus comprising in combination an open transmission line, steam jet means for creating a high vacuum at the 4 discharge end of the transmission line and air 0 cracking means at the intake end thereof.

3. A substantially inverted U-shaped transmission line, air cracking means attached. to the intakeend thereof, a high vacuum steam jet suction pump at the discharge end thereof,

said steam jet being held in a substantially vertical and downwards direction.

4. A substantially inverted U-shaped transmission line, air cracking means attached to the intake end thereof, a high vacuum steam jet pump at the discharge end thereof, a contracted throat piece in said pump, a discharge nipple attached to said pump, the

area of the contracted throat being not less than one third part of the area of the discharge nipple.

GUNNAR C. ENGSTRAND. 

